Archivos de Diario para febrero 2022

lunes, 07 de febrero de 2022

My Olivedale Garden

7 February 2022

What a storm we had in Johannesburg! So far I have measured 164 mm of rain for February but that fell over two days. The garden is waterlogged and there was flooding and damage done in and around Johannesburg. But for the time being the sun is out again.

It's been quite a busy week in the garden with the following loaded onto iNat.

Unknown caterpillars found on the house wall; they later dispersed.

Insect eggs on a leaf of a Mountain Karree. I'm watching these to see what develops.

A Chaleidoid wasp.

A Carbula stink bug.

An unknown moth rescued from the swimming pool.

A small butterfly that I think might be a Geranium-Bronze (Cacyreus Marshall).

A very small jumping spider high up on a wall.

A small caterpillar found on a leaf of a lemon tree. This might be a swallowtail. I've brought it in for rearing.

A slug.

An ant fly (Microdontinae).

A first for me, and especially interesting, was finding an ant mimicking nymph of a katydid. It looked just like an ant but with very long antennae and white under it's abdomen.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106171619

Publicado el lunes, 07 de febrero de 2022 a las 05:22 AM por doug263 doug263 | 1 comentario | Deja un comentario

domingo, 13 de febrero de 2022

My Olivedale Garden

13.02.2022

The most interesting thing I saw in the garden this past week was a Bagworm Moth. Instead of making a shelter from tiny sticks, this one appeared to use two pieces of dead leaf; one above and one below its body. In order to move it would extend its body out of the enclosure and then pull the enclosure back over itself. Then this was repeated, etc. Very interesting to watch.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106378616

This morning I took a walk through Norscot Koppies Reserve. The paths had just been cut making them passable. Many years ago this was a granite quarry that fell into disuse and was donated to the Johannesburg municipality for the use of the people. Information (and the history) can be found on their website, norscotkoppies.co.za. It's a quiet spot surrounded by townhouse complexes in the heart of suburbia but worth a two hour walk.

Litter can be a bit of a problem and I forgot to take a bag with me to clean up as I walked. Most annoying, though, was the amount of bush cutter cord left on the paths by the guys who did the cutting. Every 50m, or so, a 0.5m length would be seen on the path with its bright artificial colour. Unnecessary.

Of interest was this insect, a Cotton Stainer Bug (Genus Dysdercus), identified for me on iNat.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106667223

Publicado el domingo, 13 de febrero de 2022 a las 02:10 PM por doug263 doug263 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

lunes, 28 de febrero de 2022

My Olivedale Garden

Reflecting on the week Monday 21.02.2022 to Sunday 27.02.2022

I measured 60.7 mm of rain in the garden. However I can feel summer slipping away with cooler morning temperatures and later sunrises.

I posted 21 observations comprising 19 species.

I saw a new, for me, moth: a Siccia caffra (Speckled Grey Footman).

Then I happened to see a raptor overhead being harassed by 3 Pied Crows. I took a few shots even though it was at quite an altitude. I thought Yellow-billed Kite but could not make out yellow feet or bill. It was kindly IDed for me as a juvenile African Harrier-Hawk. This makes sense as I have quite often seen adults overhead.

Interesting to me was 2 sightings of wasps with prey.

In the first case I watched a small black wasp moving rapidly over the brick paving of my patio. The next time I saw it it had captured what looked like a young cricket. It dragged the cricket over to a hole. It then backed into the hole dragging the cricket in with it. It was IDed as Genus Liris in the Subfamily Crabroninae.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107367277

In the second case I noticed a wasp dragging a spider up my patio wall. It appeared as if the spiders legs had been removed. It was much larger than the wasp. Eventually the wasp carried it out of sight onto the roof of the patio. It was IDed as a Mud-nesting Spider Wasp; Tribe Ageniellini.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107533350

On the 5th of Feb I saw a Citrus Swallowtail (Papilio demodocus) caterpillar on a leaf of a lemon tree; very small and in its brown form.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107619980
I brought it in to raise.
It is now many times larger and in its green form. I'm now waiting for it to pupate.

Publicado el lunes, 28 de febrero de 2022 a las 06:29 AM por doug263 doug263 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario